Catastrophe

Template:Wiktionary Catastrophe may mean:

A disaster, sometimes used to mean an unusually severe disaster. (Most common meaning.)
In ancient Greek comedy, the solution of the plot.
In the field of sociology it is defined as social change of an outstanding radical and rapid character, with highly magical explanations by victims and others.
The title of a book by John Segenthaler Jr. about the Climate changes of 535-536.
Catastrophe, a play by Samuel Beckett.

Related phrases:

As a technical and a computer-related term, "catastrophic failure" usually refers to a failure within a system which leads to failure of the system as a whole.
In insurance, catastrophe modeling is the process of projecting the losses which could be sustained due to an extreme natural or man-made catastrophic event.
In mathematics, catastrophe theory studies how the behaviour of dynamical systems can change drastically with variations in certain parameters.
In finance, catastrophe bonds are risk-linked securities used to transfer risks due to extreme natural or man-made disasters.